Monday, July 9, 2012

" I mean, suck it up, be a man and rub some dirt on it."

Babe in Boyland by Jody Gehrman: Natalie writes a relationship column for her school newspaper and thinks everything is going just fine. Great even, until she's told (quite vehemently) that she really doesn't know what she's talking about. In fact, her advice according to some (internet commentators) are hurting people.

Naturally, Natalie comes up with a plan to prove them (internet people) wrong. She cuts her hair, hides her boobs, glues on fake stubble and pretends to be a boy at Underwood Academy, an all-boys school. In her quest to figure out the male population of the world, she discovers a lot of hard truths not just about boys but about girls too. Things get even more complicated when Natalie starts to fall for her roommate. What is a girl pretending to be a boy to do?

Let's start out with my likes, shall we?. First, I enjoyed Natalie's growth throughout the book. She goes from thinking she's right about a lot of things to thinking that maybe she's wrong about a lot. Her ideas on popularity and appearance do change. I believe she realizes that being shallow on a number of things isn't right. It hurts people and it's unfair. Second, she reaches a number of really interesting conclusions like that maybe girls do have a lot of expectations when it comes to guys and that girls need to listen and observe instead of talking about what they want all the time. I also really liked the message that girls shouldn't be afraid to be who they are. A positive something that I think all ladies need to be reminded of from time to time. Third, the book was really funny. At times, I had tears in my eyes because a particular section was so hilarious. I love to laugh when I read so this was an awesome amount of fun. Overall, I really liked the book and loved a good many things about it. It is exactly the kind of lighthearted book you read when you need a bit of cheering up or when you want to laugh for a while.
Even though I liked the book and recommend it there were a few things that irked me. A. The cover. Like I said before when I first saw this book, the cover image reminds me of a myspace and facebook lovechild profile picture. I dislike that. I dislike it so much. My dislike is super intense over this cover image. But I do love the font they used on the title. It's really pretty and it fits with the book's events. B. Being a boy for a week made her extra girly afterwards? It's just pants, girl, calm down. I found that to be a bit much. And by a bit much I mean a tad ridiculous. It makes all that character growth she gained sort of curl up into a ball and hide in a drawer. Also, NEWSFLASH, guys do wear pink.